With the retirement of longtime Pioneer Theater Guild leader Susan Hurwitz, Principal Tracey Lowder and the district are looking to make changes to the Performing Arts Program that may mean exciting new classes for students.One of Lowder’s main ideas is adding classes during the school day that would focus more on technical theater. “I’d like to see some courses added to our curriculum for what we do with the Performance Arts,” said Lowder. This is part of a larger goal of Lowder’s to expand the Visual Art Program. “I’d like to see us expand on what we have and see what else we can offer our students that will help them expand their interests in what they really want to get done as they prepare for their next step,” he said.Pioneer currently does not have an official drama department or many classes that fall under the Dramatic Art realm. Lowder recognizes this, saying that “We have Acting 1 and Acting 2, and those classes are going well, but we [would] like to expand upon those.” However, no one is quite sure what the expansion should look like.Many theater students are excited at the prospect of change and growth, but appreciate the acting program that exists at Pioneer. “The acting class at Pioneer is a great class where you can be yourself and meet a lot of great people. It also serves as a great introduction to the world of theater,” says Junior J.C. Champagne. Champagne also feels that part of what makes Pioneer’s acting class great is the teacher: Mr. Sabo, “He encourages us to be unique and truthful to how we interpret the character, allowing us to think more creatively and artistically,” Champagne said. Still, Champagne would love to see the acting program grow at Pioneer, building off the program that already exists. There has been talk of adding stagecraft classes, in which students learn the basics of lighting, sound, construction, and prop design. There has also been discussion of adding more acting classes that specialize in musical theater. However, Lowder said he has no official plans for what changes will be made. “I’m not sure what it becomes or what that looks like, but we want to make Theater Guild more powerful than it already is,” he said.Jacqulin Stauder, a Pioneer grad and current sophomore in Eastern Michigan University’s theater program, first realized she wanted to go into theater while working on sets crew for a PTG show. Stauder said that “It would have been wonderful to have been able to take a class about something I truly cared about,” while in theater at Pioneer. Lowder also sees merit in exposing kids to the technical side of theater. “Somebody has to build sets and props for all the shows we do, and I’d like to figure out how we, from a curriculum based standpoint, [could] offer some of these classes,” he said. With such a strong theater program, Stauder added that it’s only natural that students might decide they want to go into theater professionally. These classes give students a chance to explore many aspects of theater that they might not have learned about by doing shows at Pioneer. “I wish I had had the chance to learn more about all the aspects of theater [in high school]. There is so much that goes into it and I only learned one part,” she said. Lowder says these proposed curriculum additions are just another way for students to explore. “The more opportunities you can provide for students, then the more things they can experiment with and figure out what they are good at,” he said. Not everyone excels in the traditional classroom, but Lowder says it is Pioneer’s job to educate and provide opportunities for all students, even if traditional learning is not their strong suit. “Everyone is not gifted in the same way, but everyone has a gift, and the more experiences we can provide for students, the more opportunities [there will be] for them to figure out what those gifts are,” he said.